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Articles on Organized Labor

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A Dearborn policeman knocked unconscious was the first casualty of the 1932 Ford Hunger March in Detroit and Dearborn. Walter P. Reuther Library, Archives of Labor and Urban Affairs, Wayne State University/Detroit News Burckhardt.

Remembering the 1932 Ford Hunger March: Detroit park honors labor and environmental history

On March 7, workers at the Ford Rouge River plant marched for better working conditions, sparking America’s labor movement. Almost a century later, a quiet park honors their memory.
Massive gains in productivity haven’t led to more time free from work. J Studios/DigitalVision via Getty Images

Why is free time still so elusive?

In 1930, economist John Maynard Keynes famously predicted that within a century, the normal workweek would decrease to 15 hours. Why was he wrong?
SAG-AFTRA captain Mary M. Flynn rallies fellow striking actors on a picket line outside Netflix studios in November 2023. AP Photo/Chris Pizzello

2023’s historic Hollywood and UAW strikes aren’t labor’s whole story – the total number of Americans walking off the job remained relatively low

Two labor scholars argue that the balance of power between workers and employers, which has been tilted toward employers for nearly a half-century, is beginning to shift.
YouTuber Matthew Smith, who posts under the name DangMattSmith, takes a selfie with fans at VidCon Anaheim in June 2023. Unique Nicole/Getty Images

With the end of the Hollywood writers and actors strikes, the creator economy is the next frontier for organized labor

Even the world’s most successful creators can see their livelihoods threatened by social media companies that routinely change their algorithms and policies with impunity.
Victims’ names engraved in a metal overhang, part of the Triangle Shirtwaist Memorial, are reflected in mirroring panels along the sidewalk. AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews

A memorial in Yiddish, Italian and English tells the stories of Triangle Shirtwaist fire victims − testament not only to tragedy but to immigrant women’s fight to remake labor laws

A memorial at the site of the 1911 fire remembers those who died; a cadre of young Jewish women helped push for change in the wake of the tragedy.
UAW union members picket in front of a Stellantis distribution center on Sept. 25, 2023, in Carrollton, Texas. AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez

Why the UAW union’s tough bargaining strategy is working

The companies are making more generous offers, and the union is commanding support from the general public and the president of the United States.
Kaiser Permanente health care workers in five states and Washington, D.C., are rallying against low wages and understaffing that they say is undermining patient care. AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes

Why are thousands of Kaiser health care workers on strike? 5 questions answered

Workers are objecting to staffing levels they say endanger patient care and are refusing their employer’s offer that includes raises that they say are too low due to inflation.
Country singer Adley Stump, a former contestant on NBC’s hit reality show ‘The Voice,’ performs at an Air Force base in Washington state. Joint Base Lewis McChord/flickr

Reality TV show contestants are more like unpaid interns than Hollywood stars

With the TV writers and actors strikes leaving networks with little scripted content, the fall 2023 lineup will be saturated with low-cost reality TV shows like ‘The Voice.’
Striking United Auto Workers picket at Ford’s Michigan Assembly Plant in Wayne, Mich., shortly after midnight Friday, Sept. 15, 2023. AP Photo/Paul Sancya

What are strike funds? A labor-management relations expert explains

When unions amass large sums of money to parcel out to workers, it can give them more leverage in negotiations with employers.
Striking members of the International Ladies’ Garment Workers’ Union in New York City in 1958. AP Photo

Waves of strikes rippling across the US seem big, but the total number of Americans walking off the job remains historically low

Many of the reasons for strikes now – low compensation, technological change, job insecurity and safety concerns – mirror the motives that workers had for walking off the job in decades past.

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